


the fall

by epsiloneridani



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 04:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16468523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsiloneridani/pseuds/epsiloneridani
Summary: The sniper's sharp. Carter's gone.Kat leads Noble on.





	the fall

He's right there.

"Maybe, but according to Holl--"

Carter's body snaps back, hovering, hovering, and then collapses all at once. Emile's close enough to catch him, close enough to drag him to cover while Jun snaps off a hailfire at the Phantom. It rumbles, returns a volley that sends Jun scrambling for a shield, and then roars away.

There's a trail of blood leading into the bunker.

Carter's silent on the comm.

Kat's heart thunders in her ears. She barely feels Liz let go of her arm. The bunker door hisses shut. There are people sobbing, people screaming -- just static.

He's right there.

"Kat--"

He was  _right there_.

Kat drops to her knees beside him. The visor's seared and cracked around the hole the round made when it shot through his skull and her chest seizes at the stream of blood seeping out the back. "No," she whispers and it comes out a hoarse croak. There's red on his helmet, red on her hands, red on her HUD where his biosigns should be. "Carter, please -- you can't--"

"Kat," Jun calls softly, tensely. "Kat, I don't think he's--"

"No," she repeats. Her chest churns, churns. Carter's so still. Carter's so silent. Always her voice of reason. Always her rock. Always there.

Always right there.

"Kat--"

He was right there. He's bleeding, broken, dead -- right  _there_.

"I know" she says, gathering him in her arms and straightening to stand. Her voice is steadier than it should be. Like Carter's. "I know."

Jun passes her a tarp a long hour later and nods to where she's settled their Commander in the back of the bunker -- far from the civilians but even further from the Covenant. Kat grimaces her thanks (he can't see it through the helmet, what's the point, what's the damned point of  _any of this_ ).

Jun waits a moment more, hovering like he wants to say something else, and then slips away.

She drapes the tarp over Carter's still form, crouching beside him and clutching his hand. "Rest now," she whispers, like he can still hear her, like he's still  _here_. "Just rest. I'll take care of this. I promise."

When it's her turn to sleep she curls up on the ground next to him and doesn't close her eyes. She wants to tear off his helmet, wants to press her forehead to his and hold him close and beg him to breathe, beg him to be alive.

There's so much she never said -- so much she'll never get to say.

He was always right there.

" _Please_ ," she forces, a rough rasp when she others are asleep and she's on watch. His hand is still in her own. "Please don't be--"

The silence screams.

" _Damn it_ , Carter," she chokes. Her throat's tight. She can't breathe. " _Damn it_."

The bunker doors hiss and unseal. Jun and Liz slip out, tense and taut. Clear. Protect. Clear. Kat drives her teeth into her lip and swallows back the plea.

He's limp and lifeless in her arms.

The transport hums down, hovering low. Jun and Emile and Liz are close behind her, far enough for space, close enough to be her strength. Kat settles him in the ship and then stands -- and then stays.

This is goodbye.

Her hands shake when she clasps them on either side of his head. Her heart's in her throat.

"I'll take care of them," she says raggedly, touching her helmet to his for a second, a brief and broken breath. " _I promise._ "

The ship lifts. The ship flies.

This is goodbye.

They watch it go for a long beat. It's Emile, restless, raging Emile who breaks the silence.

"Orders, Commander?"

"We still have a job to do," she says. "So we're going to get it done."

They march on. The sky is on fire.

There's a void at her side.  
\----


End file.
